Greenpeace activists collect samples of GE maize from the cargo ship 'Victory C'. The ship is carrying an unauthorised cargo of GE Maize for illegal distribution across Europe.
A shipment of US maize corn from New Orleans,which is suspected
to contain unauthorized GE maize docked in Rotterdamharbour this
morning, less than 48 hours after the European Unionbanned any
imports from America that are not certified free of Bt10 -
agenetically modified maize not licensed in the EU (1).
"TheDutch government must act today to stop this unauthorised GE
cargo frombeing distributed across Europe," said Ulrike Brendel
from Greenpeace."The EU has sent a clear signal that this kind of
genetically modifiedmaize is not wanted. If it is off loaded it
will be impossible totrace."
Greenpeace demands that the ship, the Victory C, be forced to
return to America with its cargo intact.
TheVictory C cargo is just a small part of a GE fleet coming
from the U.Sto Europe. In 2003 3.5 Mio tonnes of maize gluten were
imported to theEU (Eurostat 2004). Despite significant rejection of
GE in food and
animalfeed by European consumers, biotech companies are making
itincreasingly difficult to police their imports by failing to
provideauthorities with adequate testing methods.
Before the EU banwas agreed last week it was estimated by the EU
Commission that 1,000tons of illegal Bt10 products had been
imported into European markets.
Just last week Greenpeace revealed another illegal GE crop, this
time rice, was being sold in China.
Other contacts: Ulrike Brendel, Greenpeace International, Genetic Engineering campaigner: +49 171 87 80 844Sandra Schalk, Greenpeace Netherlands, Genetic Engineering campaigner: +31 6 29001140Sara Holden, Greenpeace International Communications: +31 615 007 406
Notes: Notes:(1) Last Friday the EU members adopted measures that require a certificate guaranteeing the maize gluten being free of Bt10. Since biotech company, Syngenta, which produced the maize, has not provided any test methods or documentation, the presence of Bt10 cannot be ruled out. Friday's ruling will be ratified next week.
Exp. contact date: 2005-05-02 00:00:00